Friday, October 17, 2008

Tiffany is an NUS undergraduate pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. She is currently undertaking the role of Publications Director with NUSSU Travel Service, of which she takes charge of publishing the annual travel magazine, Globetrotter. Tiffany is also actively involved in other school activities and during the University Freshmen Orientation, she served voluntarily as Orientation Group Leader to help freshmen acculturate into the rigors of undergraduate life.

As Tiffany enjoys team work, this has allowed her to work well not only as a team leader but also a team player. Being a keen learner, Tiffany believes in making the most out of a learning journey. She has taken part in several exchange programs to countries like USA and Australia and has enjoyed the interaction with people of different cultures.

Academics aside, Tiffany continues to pursue her passion in dance. During her free time, she also loves reading and playing the piano.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Time really flies. From learning how to write the research question, problem statement and purpose statement, to now tying the loose ends of the entire report, the process seemed to have gone by in a flash. This project has brought about many learning experiences, of which many were fruitful.

Due to everyone's busy schedule, many a times, it was very difficult for us (our group) to schedule meet-ups to do the project. Therefore, for 80% of the time, our project was done online either through MSN or emails. I have never really approved of the idea of doing a project this way (unless it is the last resort) because it would be rather difficult to put together pieces without everyone's immediate approval and ideas. However, to my surprise, our group was able to handle this situation very well. We would as much as possible squeeze out some time after ES lessons to divide the work among ourselves and set a deadline for each of our parts to be "submitted". Initially, our roles in the group were not clearly defined but as the project progressed, we soon assumed roles automatically and tried our best to help each other along the way.

Junrong, being the experienced one on the team, usually gave us insights on how reports should be written and with what kind of language. Being also skilled in Microsoft Excel, he helped our group do up all the figures and graphs, which greatly aided us in the 'Findings and Interpretations' part of the report. Lyon, the quick-witted one on the team, was usually the one who was able to spot mistakes quickly. He meticulously noted down all the information given by Brad during class, and ensured that we followed the details to every nook and cranny. Being also savvy in Microsoft Word, he formatted the entire report and made it look more professional. As for me, I did what I could in collating all the information which Lyon and Junrong had sent to me and edited any language errors which I spotted. I also tried my luck with the referencing section, following as close as possible to the APA style given and to be honest, the task was a tremendous pain in the neck.

Because time was not on our side, I believe that all of us made the best out of this experience by grasping every opportunity to ask and learn. I dare say that our group was able to thrive under this immense pressure that the project has put on us, especially when it came to ensuring that every little detail was paid attention to. I was also taken aback at my own ability to work under pressure because I have always thought that I couldn't.

Out in the working world, I trust that many a times we would land ourselves in situations like this, whereby projects after projects have to rushed out. This therefore is a good form of "training" (I would say) to hone our skills in being accurate and efficient. After all, that's what most bosses look for isn't it?

All in all, everyone worked hand-in-hand and without the help of my teammates, this project would not have been possible. I sure hope I was as good a team member as Lyon and Junrong were. Thanks, you guys!!